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Film Genres

Writer's picture: Craig NorrisCraig Norris
Episode 96 - With host Craig Norris.
First Broadcast on Edge Radio, 17 January 2025.

In this episode, we delve into the concept of film genre through the lens of Eric R. Williams' theories, as presented in his work, "How to View and Appreciate Great Movies". Professor Williams, an M.F.A. from Ohio University, offers a compelling lecture on movie critics and the art of appreciating great films.


We apply Williams' genre framework to both classic and contemporary films, demonstrating its enduring relevance and utility in understanding storytelling and filmmaking.


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TRANSCRIPT

This is an AI-generated audio transcript, and it may contain errors. We may update or correct this transcript in the future. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about the information in this transcript. The audio is the official record of this episode.


CRAIG

I'd welcome to episode 96 of Media membership broadcasting out of Edge Radio Studios in. Nicolina, Hobart TAS on the media mother ship we explore how media can shape our understanding of the world around us and to prevent situate our own reach through media where streaming over edgeradio.org.uk as well as on YouTube and Twitch. Definitely on Twitch, you know. And you can find this by just searching media mother ship. We're also on the DAB and you can contact us and message US live in studio via the YouTube or Twitch chat or you can SMS US on 0488811707. I'm your host Doctor Craig, and on today's show, where diving into further explorations into the world of cinema by understanding why the concept of genre, genre matters. And before that, though. Let's have a look at some of the odd news that has kind of been floating around the Internet. There's been one or two unusual little bits of news that I've come across that I think might be quite interesting to get a small discussion. On. So let's start with a little bit of news out of polygon.com. The popular culture online News magazine, which goes over all interesting and bizarre things in the Internet. One of their articles which amused me to no end because I know on this show we've discussed other times this video game has been looted up on a different platform. U latest news about the. Ancient first person shooter video game Doom is that you can now play it on a PDF. Yes, as reported by a number of media agencies. Uh, the PDF file version of Doom is seems to be kind of playable. I haven't played it myself. Basically, you open up a PDF file in your Adobe Acrobat or whatever other PDF reader you've got. That and there are instructions on yeah, **********. Had to move forward. Left, right and do some other moves. It is in black and white. Ah, and it it the article says it runs poorly and plays even worse, but yeah, you can certainly check it out on YouTube. There's a couple of, yeah. Really. Really. Looks sufficiently doomed, like playthroughs of doom in PDF that you can do so, yeah, there you go. You know, there's been previous cases of doom being installed on, you know, lawn mowers that have little electronic read systems, tractors, all manner of things. So Doom, you know pretty much for some reason, it's it's the litmus paper. It's the the the way in which. If it can have some form of JavaScript that goes into it and then someone will figure out how to get doomed to be playable on it. Most importantly, actually playable. So that's probably the most unusual bit of news that has and come across. I mean the other sad bit of news, of course, is that film making legend David Lynch has passed away. Ohh, we might touch on some of his work on today show. Um, you know, certainly an incredibly influential film director. I remember as a they are second year university student doing some cinema studies, taking my friends along to see a number of David Lynch movies suggesting we watch David Lynch during, you know, going to a blockbuster store and getting of HSA. Get a raise ahead or something and at the time, yeah, I think I think it troubled a number of my friends as to the bizarre dream logic of David Lynch's films. But in retrospect, yeah. Again, broadening the cinematic vocabulary. Maybe. So again, we might dip into some of that as the show goes on as as examples of some of the work we're looking at. All right. Well, let's jump into this concept that I'd like to unpack for today. Show and I guess the reason why I think it's interesting looking at the idea of genre and the role in which genre plays in enjoying movies is is that increasingly I find there's there's movies which are kind of. Combining different genres together. So to start off as at drama and then become a horror, a comedy that becomes a A A. Story. So I want to kind of go ahead and kind of unpack some concepts now. Previous weeks we've dipped into some of the ways in which. Ohh, filmmaking and analysing film can be talked about. Via a professor. Eric Williams's work on cinema, so let's start with his definition of movies. Movies as as genre and he basically sets. Up, you know. His argument is that the way we've been using genre has become a little lazy, and we're gonna cool at film representative of a type of genre. You know, that this film is a comedy or it's a horror, or it's a Western that really we have to be specific about how it. Matches 3 particular parts of genre, so let's pick up with him discussing what these three parts of genre, and then we'll see if we can apply them to some examples. So this is Professor Eric Williams on how to review and appreciate great movies.

Speaker 2

Can be broken down into 3 categories. Atmosphere, character and story. Atmospheric expectations for each genre can be identified by location, costumes and props, and specific visceral experiences that audiences anticipate for the film. For instance, Warfilms take place in remote war torn locations with soldiers and the enemy fighting in battle for honouring country, while horror films take place in isolated areas of our society with a good versus evil battle for survival. Character expectations for each genre can be identified by their general set of stock characters and their individual goals. Horror movies have a good character fighting for survival, while a war movie has a soldier fighting for survival too, of course. But the movie is really about a fight for honour and country. Imagine a war movie where the hero isn't fighting for a sense of honour and camaraderie, but instead is just fighting because he's scared to death and wants the enemy to stop chasing him. Atmosphere and character both lead to the story expectations for each genre. Story expectations can be identified by their broad themes, such as the meaning of sacrifice or war is hell in a war. Film. Or the idea of sin versus purity or penance for past sins in the horror genre. Both are played out in this rhythm and in a way that the characters in each genre die one by one in the story. OK, let's stop there. Atmosphere, character and story. Great. Let's try to apply that to a different genre. How about a sports movie? Character athletes who want to win the coaches and mentors who helped them win and the opponents. Who also want to. Atmosphere rivalry on and off the field, each in their own uniforms with their own training gear, their own workout regimen, and a big game. At the end and story typically the underdog versus top dog with a big talk or a a montage sequence where we learned that hard work pays off and there's no I in team what have you okay. Let's try another one. How about comedy or satire? How about musical? What sort of characters do we expect in a satire? Where do most musicals take place and what kind of story is synonymous with comedy?

Speaker 3

Hmm.

Speaker 2

That's a stumper, isn't it? Because these movie descriptors don't define character, atmosphere or store. They define other elements of the film. In fact, they work in concert to define other elements of a film, as in Mel Brooks's classic Blazing Saddles illustrates blazing saddles, is a satirical comedy, but it's genre is Western. It has commonalities with other Westerns, such as the good, the bad and the Ugly Thelma and Louise, and no country for old men. Even though these are four very different movies, they all take place in the American SW and or Mexico with a wide variety of outdoor scenes so that we can really soak in the rugged beauty, which, by the way, helps with the theme of these films. The idea of order versus chaos. Chaos played out amidst rugged individualism. A personal sense of justice with a lawman and the outlaw face off in a harsh environment and where the characters have been peeled off from society and must face or create justice on their own. So pretty good.

CRAIG

So let's pause it there. So we've broken down some key characteristics of if we say a film is a western, like if we start with blazing sandals, it's it's a combined film crossing a couple of genres, but it has a western and we know it's a western as. Professor Williams is saying because there's Atmos, certain atmosphere markers, character markers and story markers, which all Westerns have, right we we have atmosphere located in kind of Dust Bowl type settings in America. We have characters that were expecting to see in a Western like a sheriff, and there we've got a story that often we expect to see in, in a Western, you know, in the case of blazing sandals and a new sheriff comes to town and there's conflict with the town local. Once, let's see if we can apply that given the news around David Lynch's passing away to one of his most well known films, Blue Velvets. This was a film directed by Lynch Back in. 1986. Just it's quite surreal. And for those that have seen it, it's it's a kind of small town mystery. So again you you you'd start probably in saying the genre. You could say the genre is a drama. Professor Williams uses these ideas of macro and micro genres within those bigger genres. So within drama, he'd then locate. That there are aspects. Of of a macro genre or bigger genre U of of mystery and thriller. Then there's micro genre elements which you could say because of the atmosphere and type of characters. It's a kind of psychological thriller. Let's listen to the trailer for Blue Velvet. And see if we can see any clues for how its straddling a number of types of genres, from drama to thriller to psychological. Well, when we hear those genres, what characters do we expect to to see in a film? Um, you know, the beyond protagonist and antagonist how we expected to hear a detective character. Are we expecting to hear a? A character espousing some history. Let's let's listen and. See if we can figure out and David. Lynch. Since. Blue velvet. Any markers of genre in the trailer.

Speaker 4

Ohh candy coloured clown. They call the Sandman tiptoe to my room every night.

Speaker 5

In front of.

Speaker 4

Justice. Sprinkle Stardust and to whisper, go to sleep. Everything is all right annoyed. I close my eyes. Leonard Drift over Phil and.

Speaker 6

No, it's dark. The game. The. Are you the one that found? The year welcome.

Speaker

One name that keeps coming up is this woman singer.

Speaker 6

Where I first thing I need.

Speaker 7

Is to get into her apartment.

Speaker 6

0 K. I don't know if you're a detective or a. Pervert. For so do you like to wear? Yeah, we. Heist still can see blue velvet. Three, my gay teen.

Speaker 7

It's a strange world, isn't it?

CRAIG

Alright, so I think there are some effective moments of what we could call genre there. Atmosphere. You know the trailer is. Giving us some clues around the type of small town setting there. Certainly the soundscape. They're going from The Sandman song at the start, then to this kind of cacophony of sound. Is this idea of going from, you know, an ideal space to a dark or seedy underworld space? Which is, you know, I I guess I kind of duality that many people point to that Lynch is working with. We've got some good character dialogue already in the trailer. The main character, Jeffrey Beaumont. You know, we're getting some clues of his journey that the film is all about, where he's going from a a type of maybe a coming of age story kind of innocence.

Speaker 6

This.

CRAIG

Into an experience of of this underworld environment via a mystery. So we have this kind of mystery thriller, macro genre story seeming to be seated in the trailer. Which brings us to this idea of story that the story, yes, seems to be in role involving around young men's investigation into into a mysterious crime which is going on in the reference this that he's found and ear. And we've got, yeah, the, the the visual certainly emphasising the idea of blending elements of film noir mystery, psychological thriller and some some narrative twists that are certainly going to be there. So certainly in terms of ohh. The blue evolve. It we can see some some aspects of those atmosphere, character and story aspects which are there which. Are really critical. If we pop back in now listen to where we could see those develop into something further. Let's see how our professor Eric Williams tries and then elaborate on those ideas of why it's important to know about atmosphere, character and story in terms of saying something exists within a genre.

Speaker 2

Eruption of each of those films wouldn't. Say they all have outlaws and sheriffs shoot outs and showdowns, and the lone man or woman trying to survive. We have single minded individuals, deputies and gunslingers and damsels in distress, so ***** and hotels and hideouts, homesteads and horses, and in some cases horse power to get across the magnificent landscape, a landscape that can almost be seen as a character in the film. But where does this long checklist come from? How did we as film makers arrive at genre? That's one of the wonderful things about genre. It's crowd sourced. They evolve naturally. We created them. Genre is exist because enough films have been created that we are now able to recognise creative patterns and those patterns become the genres and that's why descriptors like animation or musical satire, comedy, drama, silent film, Mockumentaries for kids movie. They aren't genres per se, because genres are patterns recognised by audiences. Remember character, atmosphere and story and these other films, these comedies, musicals, dramas, kids, movies, they don't have patterns. They aren't evolving from crowd sourced recognition. There's something else, and that's what I explore in the screenwriter's taxonomy.

CRAIG

Alright, so pose there. So because here. The argument is that one of the ways to know where a film can be helpful understood in terms of pointing out the genre aspects of it is because it's expressing certain patterns that audience are recognising. That's the atmosphere as there well, you know, this atmosphere is as. A typical one you'd see in a. In a cop film, right? So if you're watching or detective thriller film like Knives out by Rian Johnson, you'd be expecting to have atmosphere involving uh, you know, a group setting, right? Where a story said the storyline you'd be expecting is a death, a mystery that needs to be solved. Moved and then you'd have certain characters you'd be assuming would appear. You know, a detective police officer. A, say a setting. Maybe at the end of the story where there's a big reveal as to who done it. So again, those are specific things, specific patterns that us as audiences are expecting. And of course, it's not that films have to abide by those. These aren't kind of like, well, you've if you know you've got to learn how to do all these atmosphere, character and story parts. But. That's if you're going to engage in those aspects, like create a trailer that seems to suggest to people you're gonna want to detective thriller. Then you can take the audience on a particular journey which will either confirm those expectations or do something crazy with them and maybe flip them out. U well so. Yeah, I mean these these kind of genre conventions are only interesting, I guess in terms of how they help us explain why some films. Lead. How? Some films fail. What the reasoning behind doing a certain film may have been, you know, using these terms can be unhelpful to unpack those moments. So one film, I guess I'd like to try and unpack from this trailer, is the phenomena of recently having. Children's characters entering the public domain in the being turned into horror movies, so as soon as you say children's characters, you know. So in this case, let's look at the trailer for Winnie the Pooh movie. Now when we think of Winnie the Pooh and we say, you know, children's literature again, you know, one of the types of associations that we have there, they might not specifically be genre ones, which would be Williams is argument. But as soon as we shifted into a specific genre like we say, this is the horror, vision horror movie verse. Of it, then we'll have certain expectations, right?

Speaker

The.

CRAIG

So again, in the the clip we heard from Williams, you know we might expect to see certain characters that these are going to be characters that are being placed under threat by something, right. It's a horror movies often involve. Akila murderer a threat to individuals. Those for whom there's some threat to their life, to who they are to their bodily integrity. And that, you know, as a story around trying to survive, I guess that type of threat. So let's listen to the trailer for Winnie the Pooh blood and honey back from last year 22 years ago Now, 2023. See how they're tipping us off? And maybe playing around with our expectations from a kind of nostalgic point of view, we need the poo and how the subverting Nats the type of, I guess, market appeal they're going for, right? If we're going to see this as a horror film, this is going to be aimed at that dedicated horror film fan base. So what type of? Characters versions of these characters. Importantly, are we seeing? It we wouldn't be seeing their children's version would be seeing the version of these characters, which conforms to a horror film, right? So someone is going to be a killer. Someone's gotta be victim. Someone's gonna be a survivor. One of the clues we're going to be getting that it's conforming to these genre expectations and I guess you know, then you can layer on top of it some, some cultural commentary that might be there. There you know why these films are being made. You know the the reasonably popular wants themes are being engaged with around survival. You know, maybe. Some meta text around the loss of innocence. Let's listen. Let's jump in now to to the the trailer for Winnie the Pooh, blood and honey.

Speaker

You know you're the first person I ever shown. This place too, so special. Why? Why?

Speaker 3

Because soon we'll be Christopher Mary lover.

Speaker 4

You should be close now.

Speaker

We're not going to find them.

Speaker 4

We will Pooh piglet your.

Speaker

Ohh, we were friends for many years and they're out there. Christopher, we need to leave now. I really need to find out. What's happening though? Okay.

Speaker 6

The.

Speaker

This place is kind of cold. And did you say I was at pool?

Speaker 6

K.

Speaker 2

We need to go there.

Speaker

Some flowers.

Speaker 6

There's somebody else love song.

Speaker 3

What's up?

Speaker

Okay.

Speaker 6

Ohh let's just.

Speaker

These three friends, why he turned this please.

Speaker 5

The and all that.

Speaker

I would have never left that square. I forgot.

CRAIG

So that was the trailer for Winnie the Pooh blood and honey back in 2023. Uh for atmosphere, clearly you know, stock departure from this whimsical world of Winnie the Pooh. I mean, it's gestured to via the music box. Type sound effect of this, you know, comforting original story children's innocent vibe. But certainly the music, the atmosphere that's being conveyed through the music is one of dark, foreboding Ness. The visuals are all set in a very, very dark forest, and you've got a lot of obviously eerie effects. Very unsettling sound design. And all emphasising genre conventions clearly designed to find true through horror in terms of characters. Yeah, many of them get name checked. You know piglet. Winnie the poo. Of course, the dialogue we're hearing in the setup of the trailer is there, you know, as a child, Christopher was describing having. Being part of that life with them. A kind of. Loving, gentle environment, you'd imagine the twist being of course, that they seem to have become abandoned and become feral and violence. And so we're here at seeing this kind of transformative aspect of these characters into what would be considered conventional horror genre characters were clearly there. The the threats, the the the STALKER type characters, the characters who are are inflicting all the pain and death on our unsuspecting innocent characters. Ohh, so yeah, in terms in terms of characters I you know, we're mapping out some really strong archetypes. Interestingly, with horror films you are you've often got characters who it's important to establish they're not expecting to be killed, not expecting to be in a horror film. They're not expecting that. You know the death is around the corner, so again, part of the horror film not kind of expectations of what character motivations are, isn't that they're all geared up. Yeah. Ready to fight at Act one? So these characters you know certainly seem to go through all the conventions of being. You know you've got an innocent character. You you've got a Jacuzzi scene. So. So that there could be that notorious horror film judgement on I kind of a sexual awakening as bad within slasher film characters that are the. Then the story, if we think that the story which is getting, you know pretty well established just in the trailer of over and around the idea of of abandonment and revenge, where Christopher Robbins seems to have left poo and piglets to go to college and have been left to fend for themselves. And so on. His return? The narrative that we're seeing in this trailer seems to be 1 where the story is now Pooh and Piglet a after bloody revenge for being abandoned. And again, pretty typical horror film story there around um, I I guess in this case, you know, interestingly, maybe Christopher Robin being forced to face those choices he made and you're wrestling with the types of nostalgia, I guess, and audience had for those characters turning it into a horror film. So it is. Yeah, look, I mean, it's intriguing there again, that genre twisting that's going on with films in this sense taking them from one genre. Ohh 1U. I guess broadly contextualization, genre, kind of. Family Children's entertainment, poo and poo. We need a poo. And then shifting it into horror and doing those through conventional horror genre moves. Around setting up all of these these markers.

Speaker 6

So let's let's.

CRAIG

Let's dip back into seeing how maybe through further analysing it through through what did we can we can further that discussion.

Speaker 2

There's a place for all these descriptors. They're just not called genres. The screenwriters taxonomy is pretty simple. It works like the taxonomy of all living things, which is how biologists categorise life on our planet. And I thought if scientists can categorise everything that's ever lived on the earth, then certainly film makers can figure out how to use descriptors to talk about films. More specifically, let me give you a brief example. All living things on a broad level are either plant or animal, right? Well, unless they're bacterium or fungus or protozoa. But since this is a film course and not a biology course, I'm gonna stick with plant or a. More that's the Kingdom layer of the taxonomy of all living things. And in films, I like to call that layer this overarching layer, the film type as in, hey, what type of film do you wanna go see plant or animal comedy or drama? And there's nuance within these answers, of course. I mean, there's dark comedy and satire. Farce. Parody. Slapstick dramedy docudrama. What have you? But in the end, film type helps you decide if you're film is a comedy or a drama. Or maybe it's some sort of Venus fly trap, but at least then you know, right and you can discuss that animalistic plant in more detail. Now the next level, the second level, I called super genre. There are 11 that I'm talking about. I call them super genres, because while there's also macro genre and micro genres. So OK, maybe you were right. Maybe there were more than 11 genres. But. But let's put a pin in that for a second. I wanna briefly touch on the other categories. I'll be I'll discuss these in much more detail than other lectures, but it's worth explaining at least two other categories voice.

CRAIG

Right before you enter voice and some of the other concepts. Let's let's look at that idea. Of of those super genre concepts. He was breaking down South, the step forward and see how it breaks down this idea of those 11 categories of genre to he's arguing that there through it, 11 clear categories of genre which are pretty India. Beautiful. Then you have super genre, macro genre, micro genre. So films can kind of go across a whole series of owners. So, for instance, with blue velvet, we could say that there are aspects of a of a. Of a drama. Where will you have a a kind of kidnapped female character? There's a mystery the the main character finds a severed ear in act one. There's a thriller as he goes into this underworld space and it's taken into this crime world space. This psychological thriller aspect, so a micro genre within thriller, the psychological thriller. Because we're entering into domains of, you know, kind of deeply troubled identities. That are being kind of expressed through through the film Neo Noir. So again, you have certain atmosphere of the colours that are there being portrayed as well as that kind of.

Speaker

I.

CRAIG

You know, I guess, um, hard boiled detective vibe or you have characters that are just kind of chewed up by the world around them and have a very dystopic view. So we have those aspects. So let's hear how we can bring all those categories together to analyse a film. So let's jump ahead a bit in here. Eric Williams talking about how we can combine these ideas of genres into something. To then explain a film through.

Speaker 2

Stance the crime genre has a bunch of macro genres, including detective movies, gangster movies, heist movies, political crimes like other presidents, men or criminal revenge movie.

Speaker

This is.

Speaker 2

It's like the sting or my brother's favourite superhero movies. Which then breaks down further into micro genres. So a superhero movie will typically fall into one of three categories. It's going to be an origin story, a story where the superhero fights a personal battle, or a story where the superhero saves the world. And like I said, if you want to dig deeper into these ideas, I discussed them further in other lectures. But just know that each of the 11 genres has their own macro and micro genres as well. All told, there's more than 800 different combinations in a minute. Was that one of? The choices 1220 four, 5800. OK, so maybe there's a lot more genres than 11, but let's let's go back to those original 11. We identified 8 horror war Sports, Western crime, fantasy, Sci fi, and romance. I mean, there's three left. Here they are action, thriller and life life, right? No, that's a pretty broad topic. I'm gonna tuck that into the end of the lecture because it's a relatively new genre and it needs some private attention. But action and thriller are pretty similar, so I wanna parse those two apart 1st and then I want to show you why all of this is so important. But first action versus thriller. I mean, we know that both will be action packed and thrilling. So the visceral elements are gonna be similar, right? Chases gunfights. Battling it out against super powerful antagonists, but the main difference is how the story unfolds and how we are made to feel as it unfolds. And Action movie makes us feel excited. It's a story between good and evil. Die Hard is an action movie. The bad guys are trying to rob the skyscraper by holding hostages, and John McClain and off duty cop is going to try to stop them. And everyone kind of knows what's going to happen. I mean, yeah, the bad guys have tricks up their sleeves, but for the most part, all the cards are on the table and the movie is us watching to see how the good guy is going to defeat the bad guy mean that's the fun of it. Thrillers, on the other hand, are not so fun. In fact, they're designed to make us feel a sense of dread. Thrillers are also typically a struggle between good and evil, but in a thriller we never really know who to trust or exactly what's going on, or who's telling the truth and who's lying to whom. Silence of the Lambs is a thriller, and even though Clarice Starling, the protagonist, works for the FBI, she's only a student. She's not heroic. She's scared. She's in over her head and we fear for her. I mean, we hope she's going to find the killer in time, but we're also scared to death that she might not. In die hard, I'm never worried for John McLean inside.

CRAIG

So I suppose. It there and think about some examples of those moments where the genre gets expressed really clearly in a film sequence. So one film, which straddles a couple of different genres, was the 2007 film Hot Fuzz, directed by Edgar. Alright, starring Simon Pegg. And what's interesting about Hot Fuzz is how it goes from, I guess using the terms that Williams has a super genre. So the main biggest genre that the film's conforming to is a is a kind of comedy action. So again, as we're saying through rooms, that sets up certain expectations, there will be a fight scene. There will be witty banter and dialogue. Me and then shifting into a macro genre, right? So within that super genre, often the conventions that falls into then a buddy cop film. So we have Simon Pegg's character teaming up U with Nick Frost's character as a duo as they team up together to solve the problems within the macro genre. Though the second category would be a bit of a conspiracy vid coming in and then further diving, delving into that as the film enters its third. Act we're seeing some of the pay off of the foreshadowing around the conspiracy theory in the macro genre into specific micro genre moves like those you'd see in a small town mystery. You know, because again, the setting for this location is a small country town in England and then some micro genre film acts in those third acts of a of a kind of action thriller as there's a kind of. Holt. That's LinkedIn, but let's have a look at some scenes from heart Faz and see how they're conforming to specific acts. So this this scene from Act One is setting up that super genre idea that we're listening to an action comedy. The scene involves main protagonist being sent down by the police superiors to tell him he's being promoted, but relocated, and again see how that's coming in for beats around what we expect a comedy film to have with ideas of setting up an action film.

Speaker 7

Hello Nicholas. Hello, Sergeant. How's the hand? Still a bit stiff. It can't get awfully hairy out there. I'm surprised you weren't snapped up sooner for a nice desk job. That's what I did.

Speaker 5

I prefer to think my office is out on the street.

Speaker 7

Indeed you. Do. Your arrest record is 400% higher than any other officer, which is why it's high time that such skills were put to better use.

Speaker 6

She.

Speaker 7

We're making his Sergeant. I see so. For question.

Speaker 5

In where?

Speaker 7

Sorry, in Sandford, Gloucestershire. That's in the country. Isn't there a sergeant's position here in London? No.

CRAIG

So again, it's an interesting moment setting up the idea for comedy that he's going to a small town rather than recognising the impressive arrest numbers that he has. He's being promoted, but then relocated to a small town. Of course, what's really interesting is from that super genre space, we're looking at a comedy. Scene. Right. The way it's it's starting to be crafted. And then shifting into the fact that we know that that small Townsend is setting up the micro genre that we're ending into the second and third act of the small town mystery and almost like a kind of Wicker man coat kind of conspiracy. Setup anyway, pushing forward with this scene to see how it's establishing those comedy beats and then confusing us as to where the action can go from here.

Speaker

Can I remain here as a PC?

Speaker 7

No.

Speaker

Do I have any choice?

Speaker 5

In this you.

Speaker 6

New.

Speaker 7

Sergeant, I kind of like it. Here, but you've always wanted to transfer to the. Country in 20 years or so. Yes, well done you. Hang on. I don't remember telling. You that? Yes, you did. You said I'd love to settle down in the country sometime, Janine.

Speaker 5

I'd like to talk to the inspector.

Speaker 7

You can speak to the inspector, but I can promise you he will tell you. Exactly the same thing as I am.

Speaker 3

Hello Nicholas. How's the hand?

Speaker 5

It's still a bit.

Speaker 3

Stiff and how things at home.

Speaker 7

I'm sorry, Sir.

Speaker 3

How's Janine?

Speaker 7

We're no longer together, Sir.

Speaker 3

I bought them. Where are you living?

Speaker 7

He's. In the section herself with the recruits.

Speaker 3

Record.

Speaker 7

Yes, he's living out of the cardboard boxes.

Speaker 3

And then you're back. Already, Nicholas, we're offering you a smashing position with a delightful cottage and a lovely little place that I think has 1 village of the year. I don't know how many times. It'll be good for you. I don't really know what to say. Yes.

CRAIG

So then we see in other scenes the clues in the in the later acts around.

Speaker 3

We've seen a lot of action, such an Angel.

CRAIG

You know how they're setting up characters? So in this scene we can see some of this funding around a buddy cop as the sign pain character sitting down Nick astronaut. Is talking about his kind of action identity, but setting up the kind of unlikely bonding of a buddy cop film.

Speaker 5

Experience.

Speaker

My fascia is. Cook.

Speaker 3

Any fools.

Speaker 5

Excuse me.

Speaker 3

Just shoot anyone. He shot a crack head where the Kalashnikov?

Speaker 4

Ohh.

Speaker 5

Ohh. Did you get that the offender had the Kalashnikov?

Speaker

Would he get out?

Speaker 7

You do know there are more guns in the country?

Speaker

Than there are in the sea. Everybody.

Speaker 6

And their mums is packing around there.

Speaker 3

Like who?

Speaker 4

Almost.

Speaker

Followers. Who else?

Speaker 3

From his mum's.

CRAIG

And then by and.

Speaker 2

The third act.

Speaker

Yeah.

CRAIG

We can see moments in which some of the others honours the conspiracy and small town mystery are being set up. Interestingly, within Hot Fuzz you have the character of Timothy Dalton playing a A kind of business owner who's incredibly wealthy and throughout the film there are these murder books that are being made which are engaging in those kind of straddling of genre acts. So the. Unexpected jokes that Timmy Dalton's characters are part of that super genre of comedy. Yet they're also setting up the idea of the macros genre of conspiracy. You know that there's something he's in on that's making a protagonist. Cop character suspicious and then that micro genre of small town mystery. So let's hear some of these jokes. Murder jokes that is making two protagonist protagonist character played by Simon Pegg.

Speaker

I'm sorry.

Speaker 5

I'm a slasher and must be stopped.

Speaker

You know what?

Speaker 5

The slasher of crisis.

Speaker 6

The.

Speaker 5

Just kidding. I'm Simon Skinner on the local supermarche pop in and see me sometime. My discounts are criminal. Catch me later. 1-2 many have defected to the Big Mega Martin Buford Abbey. It's be struck from their shoulders for such digital Realty nonsense. I'm sure if we bashed your head in allsorts of secrets would come down. To me now.

Speaker 6

I don't know how. Ohh.

Speaker

Ohio.

Speaker 5

And never was a story of moon. Ohh this is Julia and her roaming.

Speaker 6

Extreme.

Speaker 5

Excuse me, Martin, being such a tragedy.

Speaker 6

Tell me.

Speaker 4

Mr Skinner, do you mind telling me how you know the identity of?

Speaker 5

The person's involved. You know how it is. News travels fast.

Speaker 3

Hello it's currently Romeo. Seeing the streets are very nice.

Speaker

That I think.

Speaker 2

Ohh, Mr Skinner.

Speaker 5

7770 you know, jokes. Nicely done.

Speaker 4

Thank you very much Sir.

Speaker 5

As we were just discussing the accident.

Speaker 4

I come to know Martin a very well of late.

Speaker

She lost.

Speaker 5

What's say we drink to their demise?

Speaker 6

Shouldn't that be drink to their memories, of course.

Speaker 5

Do you?

Speaker 4

Course skills that are the borders are.

Speaker

I'm alright.

Speaker 5

Little being the operative word.

Speaker

Ohh yeah.

Speaker 5

It's tomorrow.

Speaker

Okay. Are you? ****. I also. Story of the.

Speaker 5

Thing is about alright.

Speaker

What's?

Speaker 6

There I met a girl called Daisy.

Speaker 4

The.

CRAIG

So what we can see there are some really fun ways in which a clever director can take those ideas of genre and straddle them across the various conventions that were assuming assuming to see play out in, you know, comedy, where I, I guess meanings are juxtaposed. Used and the reactions of a very straight cop to confessions of crimes which are delivered. Kind of obviously, yet therefore not confessions of crime. The idea there that we're entering into this macro genre within comedy of it being a a kind of Bunny cop linked to a conspiracy U, where this characters the, the, the, the Timothy don't. Characters is clear. Really it's doing something shady yet out in the open. Then entering into this micro genre of it being a small town mystery involving a kind of a cult practise. So again, being able to cleverly foreshadow that and embed that within the actual dialogue shows how you know you can do some interesting things with genre ending with I guess. This how Williams tries to bring. All this together so quickly. Listen back to where combining those genres can make for interesting film making.

Speaker 2

For the lambs. I'm constantly worried and that's the point in a thriller. The audience is constantly torn between hope and fear. Hope that things will turnout alright to the protagonist and the person being rescued, and fear that they may not succeed. I mean, there's other differences as you know, but with that's the main different. That's the main difference. There are certain emotional expectations found in each of these genres, and as much as we like to be surprised when we go to the movies, we also like to have our expectations met and that's why all of this is so important to appreciate great movies, you have to recognise what they are doing and why they are doing it. Many of my students rebel against genre, which is funny to me because I believe that all films fit these genres. Unless you're making something truly off on guard, like Terrence Malick's Tree of Life or David Lynch's Eraserhead and understanding genre is important because film makers, good film makers recognise the audience's expectations as they walk into a film and they manipulate those expectations. It's the genre expectations from an artistic standpoint aren't meant to be followed. There are meant to be bent and broken and twisted and reshaped and swapped out and undone and exaggerated and minimised transmogrified I mean whatever.

CRAIG

So bring it to a conclusion there and again those kind of calls through action that Williams is making there around you know, while you might at first see genre as a restrictive set of of lists and check marks to tick off on to make a movie. He's arguing as the opposite, then actually being able to understand how general works, seeing it as a kind of consensual audience cinema. Going practise means that you can engage with those expectations, like in a film like Hot Fuzz, where you'd be going into it thinking of this is a great, you know, action, comedy film, then finding a cop, any film within it, then a a mystery and a conspiracy that's going on there. And then a kind of micro genre of, you know, small town. Mystery and a cult fire. You know the Wicker man. And again, being able to be surprised that you've travelled from a comedy action film, suddenly to a small town conspiracy murder mystery film is part of the pleasure, I guess, of being able to engage with the film, knowing that that film's going to go in the direction you weren't quite expecting with a couple of reversals and twists, which can make it all very, very interesting and exciting. O that's media mother ship for another week. Keep listening to Edge Radio now for some really cool tunes you can listen to previous episodes of Medium ownership on YouTube or Twitch as well as that edgeradio.org dot au and your favourite podcaster provider of choice. This we've got more information also on Facebook and Instagram and yeah, next week we'll jump into some more theories around media and popular culture. So keep listening to Edge Radio coming up next, we've got hurt. You, my Connie Constance.



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